De Cuypersbibliotheek wordt druk bezocht door nationale en internationale onderzoekers die zich buigen over de collectie. Wie zijn deze onderzoekers en waar gaat hun onderzoek over? Vandaag is Lizzie Marx aan het woord, ‎Andrew W. Mellon Research Fellow bij het Rijksmuseum en PhD student aan Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.

As an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow, I am spending the year sniffing around the Rijksmuseum’s collection for visualisations of smell in the Dutch Golden Age. The sorts of artworks that I look for include objects emitting smell (fig. 1), or people reacting to smell (fig. 2). I research the ways in which odours shape the narrative in works of art, and what sort of meanings we can glean from them. Ultimately, I think it is a really fascinating and novel sort of way for us to understand the Dutch Golden Age.

I have been studying the Rijksmuseum’s collection to look at the role that smell played in scenes such as the Sick Woman (fig. 3) by Jan Steen (1626–1679), and why the piece of blue cord smouldering in a clay pot is giving off a sharp odour (fig. 4).

 

I look at allegories of smell too, such as the Merry Company (fig. 5) by Isaac Elias (1590–1630), where the revellers in the scene represent the five senses. The woman with a dog on her lap is identified as the sense of smell, since dogs are well-known for their sniffing.

 

I am also looking into the sensory aspects of fashion accessories, such as gloves, because they were usually treated with pleasant ingredients to cover up the tanned leather’s acrid smell. I want to understand to what extent their perfumed qualities contributed to the status of the sitter, like this portrait of the pompous Gerard Andriesz Bicker (fig. 6).

 

All of these paintings are on display in the galleries, so it is really worthwhile to pay them a visit. And while you’re there, take in other pieces in the collection through the lens of smell too.

One of the rewarding aspects of working at the Rijksmuseum is the breadth of literature that is available in the library. Part of my research has been looking at the use of tobacco in the Dutch Golden Age, especially since it was often macerated in pleasant-smelling ingredients such as cloves and aniseed. I have been looking into the smoking habits of Dutch sailors outside of the Netherlands, and so I studied the library’s collection of literature by Louwrens Hacquebord, who carried out archaeological excavations at Smerenburg, in Spitsbergen, Northern Norway. Dutch clay pipes were discovered scattered throughout the site, reflecting an established smoking culture, and I was excited to find that some of them are now in the Rijksmuseum’s collection (fig. 7).

 

Working at the Rijksmuseum has introduced me to different sorts of disciplines and approaches that I can use to enrich my research.

Another great advantage of working in the Studiezaal is having access to the Rijksmuseum’s collection of prints and drawings. Recently, I was able to view a drawing by Esaias van de Velde (1587–1630) (fig. 8). A colossal whale was stranded at Noordwijk in 1629, and the artist probably made sketches of the creature on the beach, perhaps later working it up a little in his studio.

My favourite detail is on the far right of the drawing, where you can see three people muffling their noses to block out the stench exuding from the decaying whale. Although it was painted nearly 400 years ago, the rank smell of the whale still lingers in this work.

While I am doing plenty of looking in the Rijksmuseum, the Fellowship also supports me in smelling for research too. I recently travelled to Vienna, where I visited a collection of aromatic raw materials. One of the products I got to sample was ambergris, an extraordinary fragrance that originates from the sperm whale’s digestive system. Reading descriptions of ambergris’ smell is beautifully poetic, but smelling it in person is enchanting. And it seems that the Dutch held it in equally high esteem in the Golden Age – I even found a cooking recipe that includes grated ambergris! Smelling ambergris justified for me why it was such a desirable ingredient in this period, and now I can apply these insights to imagery in the Rijksmuseum’s collection.

Working on the visualisations of smell means that I am always finding eye-opening (and also nostril-opening) things about the Dutch’s habits, knowledge systems, industries, and of course, their outstanding visual culture. It is such a privilege to work in a place that brings my research and the Dutch Golden Age to life.

Meer over Lizzie’s fellowship en het Rijksmuseum fellowship programma lees je hier.